As community members, faith leaders, and defenders of the common good operated valiantly on Saturday to drown out and confront white supremacist factions who descended on the city of Charlottesville this weekend, Virginia suspended a permitted rally and declared a State of Emergency as anti-fascists clashed violently with neo-Nazi elements.

Please don’t let these identifications get swept under the rug. It was a prayer meeting, in a church, in preparation for today that was marched on last night by the tiki torchers. Don’t forget this when the militant atheists start broad-brushing.

And the news channels have nothing else to talk about. Note that now MSNBC, at least, is on to a car crashing into a crowd of folks who had been in this “love squashes hate” group. Waiting to hear the details. I do wish they’d can their ex-ATF pundit who’s so ready to speculate and advises folks to “go home and be safe.”

Theists were probably the large majority on both sides of this conflict–including among those on both sides who felt violence was the best way to express their views. I don’t see how this is a theism/atheism issue.

Surprisingly Trump gave a reasonable statement. Then David Duke blasted him for it. But I think it is a little late for Trump to try to disown this. For some reason the police delayed moving in to restore order. I have not idea why they waited so long. People were armed with all kind of stuff. What did think was going to happen?

"The hatred and bigotry that Donald Trump inspired has been on full display in Charlottesville last night and today" - exactly so!

The ginger pig’s hatred and bigotry, greed and arrogance, and open incitement to violence here and around the world, both financial and military/police, should accurately be seen as threatening our national interests - at least the 99% - and world peace obviously - this pathetic fascist/corporatist child-clown narcissist with his incessant mindless blather and idiot mental illness are a clear and present danger to all…

Wow, so proud of Charlottesville. Not for the violence, but the coming together of so many anti-alt-right protestors. Does it mean there’s no racism in Charlottesville, no, but just like where I live on the Gulf Coast, there’s much less than there used to be, and that’s a really good thing.

What I don’t understand is why municipalities and state governments, as well as institutions, like UVA this week, suffer their own mass delusion and timidity to legally permit rallies proclaiming bigotry and violence. The endemic hate speech of these events should be easy to show in court as incitement to violence, unprotected speech, thus a reasonable basis to refuse assembly and legally defend the refusal in court. To me, a much more sober-minded approach to such societal calamity than simply, and knowingly, exposing the public to a very high probability of violence. It’s well worth just the risk in a court of law, versus assured wanton violence in the streets. How we actually have the “national conversation” about what speech is or is not protected speech is by actually having it, that is, arguments in a court of law, with words, vice street violence. Yes, I’m sure the jurisprudence is already long, but the “case” can always be re-opened, re-assessed, when the need is refreshed with blood in town square. Hate speech incitement to violence is not free assembly. And that general claim is certainly reasonable to pursue in court and risk losing. That kind of national conversation has the potential to establish cultural and societal norms of acceptable public speech and behavior. And if bigots still want to spew in the streets they’ll have no more legal recourse to do so then they would in the lobby of some bank down the street. So, wake up, Governors, Mayors, and public University Presidents, take it to the courts, stop leaving it to the streets!

Thye have a right to protest. They are protesting a city council decision to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee from a city park. If the city tried to stop them they would probably win in court. Private universities can bar non-students from campus but public universities can’t. Generally the president of a public university would allow such protests on campus but they can cancel events if they think it is necessary because of threat of violence. I think the overall aim should be to allow free speech regardless of who is speaking and avoid violence. That is what the state and local governments should be for in my opinion.

Republicans are racing to do damage control, talking up peace and harmony to deflect the blame they all share for the violence they’ve unleashed. The more hypocritical have even flung a little criticism toward their President, trying to separate themselves from the violence and rescue the “conservative” brand.

But there is something that needs to be said: “conservative” translates into authoritarianism and reactionary violence driven by fear. (An “authoritarian liberal” would be an oxymoron.) Every dictator from the right or the left, every serial killer, violent criminal, warmongering Republican and Neoliberal Democrat, CEO, theocrat and Archie Bunker declare themselves to be “conservatives”.